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by wayvbabey



Series: NCT HALLOWEEN SERIES: NCT Dream [4]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Halloween, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:02:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27011689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayvbabey/pseuds/wayvbabey
Summary: Chenle is an internet-famous ghostbuster, travelling around haunted houses to uncover their secrets. What the world doesn’t know, however, is that he’s a massive scaredy-cat.
Relationships: Zhong Chen Le/Reader
Series: NCT HALLOWEEN SERIES: NCT Dream [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956091
Kudos: 6





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-

With a grunt, you heave the door of the van closed, listening out for the satisfying thud that indicates it’s shut before hoisting your duffel bag onto your shoulder. It’s not easy balancing the multiple bags you have in hand alongside the one you’re now carrying, but you make it work.

There’s a slight breeze in the air, strong enough to push your hair in front of your eyes and obscure your view, something that causes you to let out a frustrated huff. You’ve already driven over three hours to be here and the last thing you need is any more complications. There are a million things on your mind right now and you can’t afford distractions.

Left with no choice but to set the bags down, you manage to place them right next to all the other equipment you have been shuffling about. In your opinion, you’ve brought far too many things. Who needs five spare battery packs when you’re only spending one night away? The surplus of night-vision cameras and torches you can understand, but the thought of having to move these again in the near future makes getting back in the van and driving home a _very_ tempting idea. Getting to this location was tough, but kitting out an abandoned hospital so you could record there?

Almost impossible.

Seeing all the equipment in one place makes you very glad that you weren’t paying for them. The one who did, Zhong Chenle, is busy talking to a middle-aged woman with a young child between her legs. From what you can remember from the multiple video calls you’ve had earlier in the week, she’s Mrs Kim, the current owner of the hospital, or the _haunted_ hospital, as they claim, and the one you need to interview later.

“I’m so happy you guys are here,” the lady smiles warmly as you come over, more to Chenle than yourself. It doesn’t come as a surprise though, since Chenle is a bundle of friendliness and easy to be around, and you’re sure you don’t look the happiest at the moment.

“Thank you for letting us come.” Your best friend counters, smiling back at her. You notice the way the child shies again, peeking out from the side of her mother, who notices and places a hand on her back to encourage her to come forward.

“My sister is a huge fan of yours!” The little girl pipes up, ducking her head shyly.

Although she’s very cute, you have to stop yourself from sighing. Chenle has a dangerous habit of letting fame get to his head from time to time and, judging from the way his chest puffs up and his smile grows, the girl has just hit the jackpot in his ego goldmine.

“Does she?” He exclaims, practically vibrating with pride. “Well, does she want an autograph?”

The little girl’s eyes shine and her confidence grows. “Yes please!”

“Y/N?” Chenle turns and catches your eye. “Can you go grab me a pen and paper?”

You should’ve known. The little shit _always_ has the equipment for autographs close by.

“Sure thing,” you reply through gritted teeth, trying your hardest to not chew him out for delaying your session. The deal with Mrs Kim was a hard one to reach. The hospital was now a tourist attraction, especially at night, which meant you had needed to rent it privateky in order to film there. Every second Chenle wastes standing around is time that could be used to create content. You still have to film with Mrs Kim, after all.

You lug open the van door and scan the interior, eventually finding a notebook with a pen attached to it in the far corner. As soon as you arrive back Chenle takes it off you with a flourish, quickly scribbling down the autograph that you’ve seen him practice so many times before and then ripping it off to give to her.

“Thank you so much!” She says happily. Chenle just smiles down at her, leaving you to butt in and turn the attention to Mrs Kim.

“So,” you smile pleasantly. “It will take us about an hour to set up and make sure everything is in working order, so would you prefer to do the interview now or later?”

“Ah,” she casts a glance to Chenle, then down to her daughter. “Would you mind if we did it after? I have to get this one home. She was just dying to meet you.”

“It’s fine!” Chenle laughs. “Take your time. Me and my assistant here-” he jerks a thumb to you, “- will just scope out the place.”

“Of course! Take as long as you need.” She smiles at him once more before taking the hand of her daughter and leaving the two of you alone. As soon as she’s out of sight, you drive your elbow into Chenle’s side.

“ _Ow!_ ” He drops the notepad and hops away from you. “What was that for?”

“Calling me your assistant,” you pick it up off the floor and shove it into his chest. “Come on, we need to get all this stuff set up. I can’t do it on my own.”

“You’re so _mean_ to me!” He whines but you ignore him in favour of going back to tackle the bags. Sensing that he’s not going to get a reaction out of you, Chenle gives in and comes over to help, nudging you out of the way and picking up the largest bags.

“Are you okay with that?” You muse, humour lacing your tone as you watch him stagger about.

“I’m fine!” He chirps back, although there’s panic in his eyes. “You just focus on the little bags- I can do this!”

“Whatever,” you laugh back, coming over and placing a hand on his shoulder to steady him. He jerks back and one of the bags go crashing to the floor.

You give a yelp and dart over, dropping to your knees and unzipping the bag to make sure the camera inside is still intact.

“Is it okay?” Chenle, having abandoned the other bag, comes to peer over your shoulder.

“I think so,” you murmur, tracing the edge of the lens. “We’ll have to see what happens when it turns on. I _told_ you to be careful.”

He winces at your scolding tone. “I would’ve been fine! You snuck up on me!”

“I was- never mind.” You sigh out. “You take the small stuff, I’ll carry these two. We should put them in the main hall and then I’ll help set everything up.”

“Suit yourself,” your friend shrugs, although you can tell he’s grateful as he grabs as many bags as possible, hauling them up the drive and stopping to hold open the door for you when you finally reach the entrance to the hospital.

-

Two years ago, Chenle had the stupid idea to go and visit a supposedly haunted graveyard.

You had the genius idea to film it.

Within a week, the shoddily-uploaded video had hit over a million views and the comments just kept flooding in. Chenle’s Instagram suddenly overflowed with messages demanding for more. It had only taken a month for the _Ghosthunting with Zhong_ Youtube channel to be created, and when it was he had recruited you, his best friend with a passionate interest in photography and editing, to be his partner.

You and Chenle have travelled all over Seoul, going further and further afield as your subscriber count has grown. Today, for the ten-million special, you’ve come to what is arguably known as the most haunted place in Korea, the Busan Emergency Infirmary, abandoned long ago but still a popular attraction.

You just hope Chenle can survive the night.

Because while he comes across as confident, funny and loveable to his viewers, they’re not the ones that have had to sprint after him in pitch black corridors after he gets freaked out by some wind. They’re not the ones that have to spend many sleepless nights editing out all the swearing and high-pitched screaming he does.

Unbeknownst to them, Zhong Chenle is _terrified_ of what he does.

-

“After this, we can hit up the pool at the hotel,” Chenle sighs contentedly, watching you fix the last camera in place, turning it on and then clambering down the ladder, admiring your handiwork. “And then I’ve written down a few places that seem cool to check out. We should go together.”

“Yeah,” you reply absentmindedly. “We need to interview Mrs Kim now though, and then I need to get this edited so that it can go up by the end of this week.”

You don’t notice the way Chenle blinks, disheartened. “Well, you could always leave it for another day.” He replies. “That way we can relax together. We haven’t done that in a while.”

“This is for the ten million special, though.” You collapse the ladder and heave it up, gesturing for him to leave the room first. “That takes priority. But, if filming goes well, then I’m not gonna object to us going out to get some food later.”

“Brilliant!” You hear the smile in his voice. “Shall I try to book us a table somewhere? I was looking the other day and-”

“Chenle,” you interrupt. “Focus.”

“ _Sorry._ ” He sing-songs, leading the way out with a skip in his step.

Once everything is set up you’re finally ready to interview Mrs Kim. While Chenle rehearses the questions, you fiddle with the settings on the camera and set the two of them up with clip-on microphones.

“Are we ready?” Chenle asks, passing you the list of cues. You nod, positioning the camera.

“We’re good to go.”

Then you press play.

“So, Mrs Kim,” Chenle rattles off the first question, gesturing to the camera. “Can you explain why this place is so haunted?”

“Of course,” she smiles. “So this place is, as you would have expected, an emergency infirmary for those who were in need of serious medical care. The Busan government utlized this place in many different ways, the two most notable being a hospital for the severely sick and, later on, an asylum for the mentally ill.”

“And do you think they left any impact on this place?” Chenle pushes.

“Oh, most certainly.” She nods. “A lot of people died during the hospital period and when it was converted to an asylum, the doctors found that the patients were very disturbed during their time there.”

“Would you say there was a supernatural presence in the building?”

“Absoutely.” You zoom in slightly on her face. “There are records of patients commiting suicide, doctors finding things out of place. Even today every ghost hunter that we’ve had here says there’s a very negative energy about this place. We have tourists come in _strongly_ denying the existence of ghosts, but once they leave, they think otherwise.”

“Interesting,” Chenle nods and you focus the camera back on him. “Are there any specific areas that people have noted supernatural activity.”

“The operating room always comes up in people recounts,” Mrs Kim lists off. “Also, the ward on the top floor, where the most sick patients were kept, a lot of stuff happens up there too. We’ve had reports that people see a lady in white roaming the corridors in the early hours of the morning.”

“Any idea who this person is?”

“Probably a former patient. If you want to find any spirits, the top floor is your best bet.”

“Brilliant.” Chenle concludes, a signal for you to stop filming. Once you’ve lowered the camera he drops his formal facade and smiles to Mrs Kim. “Thank you so much, Mrs Kim. That was brilliant.”

“I’m glad to help.” She smiles. “I take it we’re done here?”

The two of them look to you, busy checking the video. “Yep,” you reply after a few seconds. “All in one take. Good job, Chenle.”

“Thanks!” Your friend beams with pride, leaving Mrs Kim to come and peer over your shoulder at the recording. The latter bids the two of you goodbye before heading off, leaving you both alone with the hospital.

“So, judging from this,” you trail off, skimming through it as fast ask you can. “It seems like we should do a walkthrough of this place, then head to the operating room and top floor, where we’ll film the main segment. Then, during the early hours of the morning we’ll go and see if we can find this ‘lady in white’. Oh, and inbetween, if I pick up anything on the cameras, we’ll head straight there. I’m sure I can turn that into a suspense piece, or something.”

You feel Chenle wince. “Do we have to stay the whole night?” He complains.

“Yes.” You stare at him, powering off the camera and starting to make your way to the first location. You can’t start too early otherwise the residue of light from the daytime will infiltrate onto the cameras, but if you start too late you won’t have enough time.

Luckily, you’ve come prepared. The remaining daylight hours is spent checking and double-checking the equipment, planning out the route the two of you will take, and eating something before you head off. As soon as it hits ten, when you feel it’s dark enough to begin recording, you signal to Chenle and begin filming.

“Hi guys!” He beams at the camera, which you are able to capture thanks to the night vision. “So myself and Y/N,” he gestures to the camera and you smile to yourself from behind the lens. Without fail, Chenle will always introduce you at the start of his videos. “Are here at the Busan Emergency Infirmary, a place that was highly requested by you guys, for the ten-million subscriber special. At the moment,” he gestures around, “we’re in the main foyer bit of the hospital, where patients would be released and admitted.”

“That’s great,” you butt in. “If you’re happy to move around, I’ll film you as you walk along. Tell me the vibes you get here.”

It’s a regular occurrence for you to talk when the camera is on, either to direct Chenle or cut him off if he goes on a spiel. You always edit it out later, but it helps the two of you get through the nights. Without it, you would both be incredibly bored, and after the editing process, you like to think the videos turn out to be quite funny when Chenle seems to be talking just to the viewers.

“Well for starters, this place does give me creepy vibes, like Mrs Kim says,” Chenle admits, shuddering slightly. You have to bite down on a laugh.

“That’s because it’s cold.”

“It’s just freaky! If anywhere is going to have ghosts, it’s this place.” He replies. “Now, the room we’re entering here is the operating room, one of the most haunted places here…”

-

Most of the night passes by without a hitch. Like always, Chenle makes wild theories and freaks about the tiniest of things. Luckily it hasn’t held the two of you up much and you’ve reached the top floor just after one in the morning.

“There have been many reports,” Chenle murmurs, shining his torch out into the darkness, “of a female lady dressed in white being seen down these corridors. People say she might be a patient, but we’re going to get the answers.”

“Go on then,” you prod. “Say hi to her.”

“Be careful, Y/N!” Chenle whines, sending you a glare and shining his torch right at you. “Don’t disrespect the dead!”

You mimic his words right back at him before ushering him to hurry up and get on with it. You’re all wrapped up in a warm coat but the chill is starting to get to you now. The sooner you can leave, the better.

“Hi there,” Chenle calls out, distracting you by how stable his voice sounds. He’s had a lot of practice. “If there’s anyone out there, any ghosts, please make yourself known.”

Even though you know nothing is out there, and that nothing will reply, you still hold your breath and wait.

Nothing.

“If there is a spirit out there that roams these halls, could you please give us an indication that you’re here?” He calls out again. “A sound, or a sign?”

Again, nothing happens. Chenle inches further away from the camera and you shuffle to keep up with him. You’re only about halfway down the corridor.

“Do you feel anything?” You prompt.

“No,” he replies unsurely. “But I am cold. Like, really cold.”

“You should’ve worn a thicker jacket, then.” You smirk. Chenle throws you a glare but you know him well enough to see there’s no malice behind it.

“Give me yours, then.” He pouts childishly.

“Focus,” you chide in return, gesturing to the camera with your free hand.

“Right then,” he rubs his hands together to try and generate some warmth. “If there’s a spirit in here, make some noise.”

Nothing.

“If there’s anything here, give us a sign.”

Nothing.

“If you want us to leave you alone, let us know- _hey,_ Y/N!”

“What?” You ask, shining your torch at him to make sure he’s okay.

He’s not. He’s staring at you, white as a sheet.

“How did you get there?” He murmurs.

“I’ve always been here, Chenle,” you frown, slightly concerned with how shocked your best friend looks. “Why, what happened?”

“You literally just ruffled my hair!” He points to his head where you can see a few strands are out of place. “I felt you, right next to me.”

“Nice try, but that wasn’t me.” You reply cautiously, trying to figure out if he’s joking or not.

“I’m not making this up!” As if he’s read your mind, Chenle denies it, his voice climbing a pitch as he does so. You’re about to reply when your phone gives a small ding, notifying you that some sound has been picked up in one of the rooms.

“Whatever,” you reply, balancing the camera on your shoulder and neck so you can use your hands to find out which room you need to go in. “If it wasn’t you messing about, it was the wind. I can feel it’s getting cold now, so if you want we can go and check this room and wrap it _UP-_ ”

You finish your sentence with a shriek, almost dropping your phone as you charge over to Chenle and grab his arm, yanking him back towards you as hard as possible and shining your light onto the place he’d just been.

“What the fuck was that, Y/N?” Chenle cries, fighting his way out of your grip. “What happened to 'oh, you’re making this up, Chenle’!”

He does a horrible impression of your voice, but you’re too terrified to care.

“I- I saw her…” You blabber. “She was- was right next to you, Chenle!”

As quickly as you got scared, you sober up, pocketing your phone and grabbing Chenle’s hand.

“We’re getting the fuck out of here.” You instruct.

“Wait- seriously?” Chenle asks, shock in his voice as he twists around and looks with panicked eyes at the place he once stood. “What about the rest of the night? We have footage we need to film.”

“Fuck that.” You shake your head, reaching the stairs and yanking him down beside you. “Your subscribers are not worth getting killed by a ghost. I’m sorry, I’m sure they’re lovely people, but I’d like to _live,_ thank you very much.”

“Please tell me this is a joke.” When you don’t reply, Chenle starts tugging on your arm. “Y/N! Tell me this is a joke.”

“Sorry, do I look like I’m joking?” You hiss at him. “She was right next to you, Chenle. White dress and all. She was fucking floating! Why would I joke about this?”

You reach the bottom of the stairs and shine the torch behind you for good measure.

She’s waiting at the top of the stairs.

Chenle sees and gives an ear-splitting shriek.

Then, the little shit makes a break for it and leaves you behind in the dust.

“You fucking _ASSHOLE_!” You scream at him, pounding down the corridor, hot on his heels. “I fucking quit! You hear me?”

“I’m _sorry!_ ” You hear him wail from close by. “Don’t die!”

“ _I’M TRYING NOT TO!_ ” You shriek back, voice echoing around the empty halls.

It’s so dark outside that you don’t realise you’ve made it out until you go crashing into Chenle. The camera is secure in your grasp but the two of you go flying, tumbling down the hill in a tangle of limbs until you collapse at the bottom in a groaning pile. Chenle lets out a little moan before moving to grab his torch, jolting you before turning it on and accidentally shining it in your face, causing you to jerk away.

“Is she gone?” He asks cautiously, redirecting the strong beam away from you and reaching towards you with his other hand, gently patting down your shoulders and brushing off the dirt.

“I think so,” you cast a glance back into the darkness. You’re alone. “Maybe she can’t leave the hospital?”

“Well, if she can’t leave then we’ll just have to never, ever visit this place again!” Chenle replies forcefully, getting to his feet and holding out a hand for you to take.

“Agreed.” You take his outstretched hand and he hauls you to your feet. “The cameras can wait. Let’s drive the van back and review the footage.”

-

Just to be safe, the two of you park your van on a well-lit street. Chenle had wanted to go straight back to the hotel but you’d disagreed. If the footage was gone, then you would need to go back and reclaim some. Otherwise, there would be no video and the whole trip would be pointless.

“I’m not going back in there,” Chenle reiterates for the fifth time as you clamber out the driver’s seat and join in amongst the clutter in the van. You’ve just finished uploading the footage onto your laptop and while Chenle is adamant about not returning, the rational part of you knows that you can't not have any footage.

“Let’s just see what this shows us,” you reply evasively, getting up the video file and clicking play.

It starts from the very beginning so you begin the tedious chore of speeding it up. Chenle catches sight of the corridor and paws at your arm to tell you to stop.

You stop just as there is a scream on the video. Your scream, from when you’d first seen the ghost.

Chenle peers at the screen. “I don’t see anything.”

“The camera should have picked her up,” you trail off, confused.

As the recording progresses you realise that, while the footage is intact, the apparition is nowhere to be seen. There’s no trace of her anywhere on the video, almost as if she isn’t showing up on the screen.

A shiver runs down your spine. You _know_ she’s real.

“We’re screwed,” Chenle mutters. “It just looks like we’re screaming at nothing.”

“It’s okay, I’m sure we can spin this a different way.” You assure him before the video distracts you. “Hey, look, here’s you ditching me.”

“I didn’t mean to!” He whines. “I would’ve come back for you the second I realised you weren’t with me. I’m just so used to you being by my side!”

“Whatever,” you snort, rolling your eyes and refusing to admit how smooth Chenle sounded just then. “What are we going to tell Mrs Kim and your millions of viewers?”

“I dunno,” he shrugs, glancing at you. “Halloween Special?”

-


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